"Oh this is a Zorua. She's a dark type fox Pokemon. We both come from the Unova region and live in Black City." Fary said smiling as Jordan helped her up. Zorua ran around Fary yipping not liking that fact she was knocked over. Fary bent over and pick up her pokemon. "Shhhhh it's ok Zorua." she said petting her. "Good girl." she said then looked back at Jordan. "So you're someone I'll be traveling with then. I'm Fary Natashi. It's nice to met you." she said giving Jordan her hand to shake. "Hmmm your kinda cute." she added.

"Uh...Jordan," he replied, reaching out and shaking the hand back. Damn, cute already? Man, I am just on right now. Must be. I haven't done anything. There were footsteps coming from off to the side, Jordan looked over and there was another girl coming over. A redhead. Wow, man. Where were all these girls before? Were they just hiding under rocks or something and I just couldn't spot them? I mean, whoa!

"So uh....so uh....yeah, when did you get into town? I mean I think I would have noticed someone like you..." he nodded towards the approaching woman "and her...before."

"I just got into town, I traveled clear from the Unova region on my bike." she said smiling more propping her bike on the side of the professor's house. "It was well a long trip to say the least. Add on the fact I had to fight Pokemon on the way here." she added Zorua yipping at Jordan then jumped down to sniff him.

Surprised, Rochelle caught the nod from the guy and answered it with a short wave, making her way over to join him and the other girl. "Um, hi. I'm new around here. Rochelle Sanders, soon to be starting Kanto's Pokémon League Challenge," she introduced herself. The little fox-like Pokémon that seemed to be friendlier to the girl than most was much cuter up close than at a distance, as she had originally seen it.

Tyler Page brandished his well-worn Ultra Ball and pointed it at his Abra. The small Pokemon's form turned into red energy and retreated back into the device with a woosh. Miniaturizing the round, gold-colored ball, Tyler placed it in his black-and-purple checkered backpack and continued on his way.

Tyler and Geist had encountered some rather fierce members of the local Rattata population while traveling from Viridian City. Geist had tried fending them off with Hidden Power, but whatever he threw at them, nothing worked. The small purple rats made a run for the helpless Geist when he teleported himself and Tyler back to the Viridian City Pokemon Center.

After recuperating from the sudden bout of nausea the teleportation had brought on, Tyler had to but a handful of Repels from the local store to keep the damn rats away so he could walk through the grass in peace. Well, at least I know Geist's Hidden Power is Ghost-type... he thought to himself bitterly as he sprayed the bitter-sweet smelling chemical on his skin.

Thankfully, the Rattatas stayed far away from Tyler as he traveled back down Route 1. When he cleared the final stretch of tall grass, he was greeted with the very welcome sight of Pallet Town. "Finally..." he groaned as he let out a sharp breath. Looking around, he was put at ease by the quiet, homely feel of the small town. It was a far cry from the big, noisy, bustling Saffron City where he was raised.

Scanning the buildings, Tyler started looking for the one that might be Professor Oak's lab. He wandered aimlessly through the town, getting the occasional strange stare from a resident tending to their lawn or feeding their Pokemon. After gaining the courage to ask someone where to find Professor Oak's lab, the person he asked did not answer his question, instead going off on a tangent about the wonders of modern technology.

Slowly backing away from the clearly strange fellow, Tyler turned around and nearly ran face-first into the wall of Professor Oak's lab. Nice one. After a quick check of his surroundings, he noticed a group of people gathered around the lab. Approaching the group, he shoved his right hand into his pocket, a nervous habit. "Uh..." he said to nobody in particular. "Are we all waiting for Professor Oak?"

"I got flown here, my dad. He's on some bogus bender about me having to be responsible and stuff. I'm plenty responsible, he doesn't need to be all jerky about it." As the redhead came up, she introduced herself. Man, she looks even better up close. Damn. "Uh hi, I'm Jordan, um I guess I'm also doing that thing too. Yep." Then another guy appeared, a goatee-sporting boy walked up towards them. Jeez everyone's just showing up now."Are we all waiting for Professor Oak?" "Uh...yeah, I guess man. I dunno."

"Then was was that girl on the radio saying she wasn't going to Raichu a love song? She must be able to Raichu a song if she is willing to deny you it. What did you do to her anyway?"

"NOTHING! GOD DAMN IT!" The two Oaks came out the door to see only one trainer standing there, a young girl.

"Oh hello there little girl! I bet you'd like a Pokemon wouldn't you!"

"Gramps, you don't have any!" Gary turned to the young trainer and went down the list he had. "Hmmmm, so you must be...Terinth, right? I'm Gary Oak, I'm the leader of the Viridian Gym, I'm the Grandson of...this guy...and I'll be getting your group registered for the Pokemon League. For obvious reasons. Anyway, once the others on the list arrive we''ll get started. I'm not sticking around this place all day waiting."

"Well, it looks like everyone else is gathered over at the entrance to the town." Terinth replied as Oak began to ramble on about how Grass pokemon were great for lawn care. "It was nice meeting you, Professor Oak," Terinth interrupted, "But we probably should get to the rest of the group."

"Oh, yes! You mustn't keep the others waiting." he replied as he went back inside his lab.

"So, how did he get so...loony?" Terinth asked Gary as they headed towards the rest of the group.

"Sigh, it's a long story, his mind was slipping 10 years ago, he couldn't rememder MY BLOODY NAME! And it's just been downhill ever since. That's why I'm doing this instead. No one else can. His assistant has disappeared and my sister is off working in Veilstone at a massage parlor. It's a shame really." Gary led the young girl to the other trainers, all looking like they should be partying in college rather then setting out on this journey. Jeez they're all no older than me, and they're just starting while I'm the top Gym Leader in Kanto? And a former Champion? Pathetic.

"All right you guys, if you just want to follow me over here, we've still got," Gary checked the list, "...three more people left to show up and we can get started."

"OK, bro," Jordan said as he started to follow after the gym leader, leading them back to the door.

Fary looked over at Gary. "So your Gary Oak. Hmmm as good looking at they say." she smirked crossing her arms as Zorua followed her then jumped on her shoulders when she stopped yipping at Gary wanting to protect her trainer. "Shhh Zorua." she said.

Rochelle shot a sideways look at Fary, a little skeptical of the older girl's attitude towards the Gym Leader. She herself respected Gary already, as he was evidently a skilled Trainer if he was in charge of a Gym. She'd have to face him in a battle at some point. The prospect was both awe-inspiring and a little scary. She had only battled wild Pokémon rarely before arriving in Pallet Town; Kirsten was still pretty young.

Nonetheless, Rochelle walked alongside the others, heading for the door to the Pokémon lab.

As Terinth approached the rest of the group, there were already four others there. They all looked to be close to her age, if not the same. As Gary introduced himself, told them there were still three others coming, and directed them to the lapb, Terinth immiediately went to the back of the group.

"Hello, my name's Terinth." She said to the girl next to her, "Isn't that a Zorua?" She said, motioning to the pokemon on her shoulders.

A voice that Tyler remembered hearing on TV before caught his attention. Turning to see who was addressing them, his vision was graced by none other than...

GARY.

MOTHERFUCKING.

OAK.

Gary Oak, the second most powerful Trainer in the world, had just (rather indifferently) talked to him. Well, technically not him in particular, but he was part of the group he addressed. That was good enough for him. After hearing one of the girls' attempt at a pass at Gary, it seemed the "facts" on the Internet about Gary's presence being a natural aphrodisiac might just be true after all. That, or perhaps he spent a little too much time prowling imageboards. In any case, being about ten feet from Gary Oak was still an awesome experience. A bit too starstruck to say anything, Tyler followed the group to Professor Oak's lab.

Aeris had been traveling by a boat for a few hours now when she spotted Pallet Town. "Finally. I can get off of this boat and away from the ocean. Hope there aren't many people with water Pokemon when I arrive..." Blaze stood beside her, watching towards Pallet Town. She was holding onto Aeris' leg so she wouldn't fall overboard. It was said that if the flame on the tip of a Charmander's tail would die out, then the Charmander would die. And she wasn't about to find out if that was true, so she held tightly onto Aeris' leg.

Not long after, the boat arrived at the beach of Pallet Town. Aeris thanked for the ride and she and her Charmander, Blaze, got off and away from the ocean as quickly as possible. She was lucky she didn't bump into anyone. She suddenly stopped and looked around for anyone that looked like Professor Oak. She remembered what he looked like. She spotted him and a few other people near him. Seeing that Blaze was close to her, she walked towards Professor Oak and the others, smiling, both of them. She knew she would probably attract some attention, what with her wearing almost nothing but red, except her green sneakers and orange vest. She was wearing her red shorts now since it was hot enough to wear only them. Her jeans were secure in her backpack.

Gary led the group into the actual lab, he spotted another one of the trainers coming towards them, the Fire expert, the one in all red. He recognized her from the photo since she was the only one in all red. "All right, only two more to go and we can start. All right well this is the actual lab. I spent quite a few years here, learning about Pokemon before I set out on my journey. I'm not sure what kind of experiences you guys have had but you're going to need to rely on all your knowledge if you want to try and do what I did."

Just then Professor Oak came rushing into the room. "Trainers! Trainers! I have your Pokedexes! They're here in this box for you!" He held out a box that contained things that were clearly not red...or working.

"Those are fucking iPods Gramps! And they're all broken! The screen doesn't even work! Why do you have these?"

"I found them on my walks! They're still good! Oh did I tell you all? This is my grandson! His name is....um what is his name again?"

Looking at the box of broken MP3 players, Tyler raised an eyebrow in the general direction of the seemingly senile Professor. Before he could say anything about Oak's apparent amnesia regarding his grandson's name, he felt something vibrate in his pocket. His phone. Pulling the device from his pocket, he read the caller ID on the screen.

CALL FROM: MOM

What does she want? he thought as tried to flip the device open, but only succeeded in dropping it. "Shit!" he blurted out loud as it fumbled out of Tyler's hand and onto the floor. The battery pack ejected from the phone and landed a short distance away. Scrambling quickly, Tyler grabbed the liberated power source and plugged it back into his phone. Thankfully, it was still functional. Close one.

While Rochelle noted that another person had entered the lab behind the larger group, she was confused by Professor Oak's behaviour. This wasn't the man she had had described to her, the brilliant scientist who had appeared on Johto radio to discuss Pokémon, their behavioural patterns and habits and suchlike. Rather, he was more like an old man who had begun to lose his grip, who should have retired a few years ago. Perhaps someone should take his place. She resolved to contact the Kanto government in some way when the group reached Viridian City, and mention it as a matter that needed to be attended to.

"Um, Gary - may I call you Gary? - perhaps you had best, um, take care of the situation," she said shyly, a little nervous when talking to the Gym Leader. "Your grandfather seems to be acting... strangely, for lack of a better word."

Professor Oak thought for a second. "That's right! I remember now! His name is Shit! Shit, why don't you tell the trainers about where they will go from here?"

"WHAT THE FUCK! MY NAME IS NOT SHIT, YOU SENILE OLD BASTARD!"

"Shit, stop yelling at me! I can hear you. I'll put your coffee on for you." The Professor shuffled off to the kitchen to get the coffee that no one wanted.

"OH MY GOD! IT TOOK ME EIGHT YEARS TO GET HIM TO STOP CALLING ME DOUCHE!" Gary pointed at at Tyler, who's inadvertent comment set this off. There was nothing but rage in his eyes as he shouted at the young trainer. "You. You're a fucking dead man. I better not see you again after you leave this place or I will hunt you down and shove a Tauros horn so far up your ass you'll be coughing up Horn Attacks!" He was seething, his face was red, but the timid question coming from the redhead calmed him down a little bit. "Hah, yes.....Rochelle. For lack of a better word, he is acting strange. He's 85, he shouldn't be doing this anymore. And Tracey, his assistant is supposed to be here helping him, but he disappeared a year or so ago. No one knows what happened. I'm only here because they couldn't find anyone else. Anyway, after the last two Trainers arrive, I'm giving you your Pokedexes and getting out of here. I've got a gym to run, cheerleaders to feed."

Jordan just watched the scene in confusion. Dude, this guy really needs to just mellow out.

Fary looked over at Terinth. "Yes it is a Zorua. My father breed her for me as a present." Fary said petting her then looked over at Professor Oak.

Why does this feel familiar? Like from a game of my youth. She looked over at Tyler then at Gary. "Um Professor Oak you're grandson's name is Gary, One of the great Pokemon trainers along with Ash Ketchum. Though I've always been a fan of Gary I must say." Fary said Zorua blinking and looking at Gary. Sadly Oak was already out of the room.

Tyler was scared stiff, for lack of a better term. Being on the receiving end of Gary Oak's pure, unadulterated rage was easily the most terrifying thing he had ever experienced. He was a bit too shocked to even open his mouth at first, but he managed to stammer a reply. "Uh..geez, I'm sorry...it was an accident, man....seriously..." he was able to say, his voice reflecting his state of sheer terror.

As Terinth listened to Gary Oak's tirade, she started thinking he was completely insane. I have to fight this guy later? Well, that's NOT going to be complete and total nightmare. Seeing that he calmed down, Terinth asked, "Hey, while we're waiting for the last two people, why don't we find out each other's name. Mine's Terinth, what about you guys?"

"I'm Mika..." The blond boy said quietly, having come through the door a few minutes ago and just keeping quiet, a black-furred Pokemon at his side. The Houndour's skull platings shone like polished ivory. The Houndour sniffed the air as they entered the building, and Mika giggled a bit at the ancient Professor's antics. "Sorry I've been quiet..."

The Houndour next to him nuzzled the boy's leg, nibbling lightly on his pants and then walked over to the other trainers, smelling them and yipping happily before going back over to his own trainer. He smiled down at the Pokemon, and scratched its ears gently.

"I'm here for the Pokedex..." Mika said softly. "I'm sorry if I was interrupting anything... Though, you guys seem to be in the same predicament that I am."

Aeris walked up to the others, still with her smile on. "Ah, so good to have gotten off that boat. My name's Aeris Crimson. And this here's my little Blaze." She patted the head of her Charmander who murmured a bit at it. She was feeling better now that she was on land and away from the ocean. Well, as far away as she could. It was still close by, but not close enough for her to fall into it.

"It's nice to meet you all. So exciting to be starting on being a trainer. Ah, it would be wonderful to catch a Ghastly. Though, I do wonder how one would be caught, since it's a ghost..." She tilted her head a bit to the side while thinking a bit, and so did Blaze.

"As some of you already know, I'm Rochelle Sanders," Rochelle reintroduced herself. She thought about letting Kirsten out of her ball, but decided against it as there was no water source nearby. As she had learned, the little Horsea could live outside of the water for a little while. She had yet to see if that time was enough for a battle or two against an opponent.

Rochelle took out Kirsten's Poké Ball and held it in one hand, toying with it as she added, "I'd show you my Pokémon, but she can't stay outside of water for too long. Got to be careful with her."

As everyone started introducing themselves, Jordan began silently appraising everyone. Hmmm, Terinth's too young, can't go with that. Probably end up with little stick boy there. Mika, that kid. New girl, Aeris, she's all right. Another redhead, like that. But the marks on her face, eh, those are a little off. Not a fan. So it's between Rochelle, and uh, Fary yeah. Honestly either one wouldn't be bad. I could go for either one. Yeah. Totally.

At that point Jordan realized it was pretty much his turn. "Oh yeah, right. Um, well, I'm Jordan. I'd let my little bro out but he's young, and I don't need him breaking anything in here, right? Kinda have no money."

Gary was pleased to see #7 arrive. He left the room to go get the real Pokedexs. Anything to take my mind off that girl. What's she staring at me for? I know I'm famous. I don't need her telling me that. She's not even anywhere near my cheerleaders' levels.

"According to this, Pallet town should be right around the corner." Simon Braddock pushed his glasses up with one finger before lowering his Kanto map. "We're almost there, bud." Simon smiled and looked down at the ground next to him. But only dirt and a patch of grass met his gaze. "Shadow?" A certain Poochyena had gone missing...again. 'I hope he didn't find another tree-ful of Pidgey.' Simon thought with a frown. He still had sand in his shoes from the last encounter.

The young courier eyed a row of nearby trees. On the ground there was a suspicious looking trail of paw prints. 'Aha.' Simon began to push his way through the closely planted foliage. His backpack bent some branches and he heard a snapping sound as the weaker branches broke. "Shadow!" Simon called for his Pokemon again. Then he whistled loudly.

An answering yip came from close by. Simon put his hands in front of his face and ducked his head to clear the remaining trees. When he lowered his hands Simon found himself on a wide path edged by trees. A few feet ahead of him a wooden sign declared Pallet Town's entrance. Simon's Pokemon was standing on its hind legs and had both front paws pressed against the signpost.

"Good boy." Simon smiled and hefted his backpack to a more comfortable position. 'Now I just have to find the lab...' With a short whistle Simon called his Pokemon over to him. "Come on, let's go." The Poochyena bounded over to his owner. Shadow remained obediently beside of Simon as they walked into the town.

----

After politely asking a passing jogger for information Simon and Shadow soon stood side by side in front of the Pokemon Professor's lab. Shadow pawed at the open door while Simon looked around. He noticed a good sized group had gathered inside. But none of them looked familiar. 'They must be trainers...'

"Excuse me." Simon called, still standing in the entrance. "Is there a Professor Oak here?" he asked.

Fary looked around realizing it was her turn as well. "I'm Fary Natashi, from Black City. I'm a breeder and a coordinator." She said seeing Gary walk off but didn't really care. It was more fun to mess with people then flirt in some cases.

"I pretty much grew up around Pokemon." Fary said and stopped not wanting to talk about it anymore. She then looked over at Jordan. Hmmmm still not bad compared to the others. Gary it seems is ignoring me so that won't work.

Gary retrieved the Pokedexes from their box on the table. Luckily Grandpa hadn't covered them in honey again. As he carried the box out he heard the last new trainer coming in and calling out. "Yeah, but you don't want to see him. Come on in." He made his way towards the group of trainers as the last one joined them. "All right, now that you guys are all here, I can finally give these out. These are your Pokedexes. They're like an ID card and an encyclopedia all in one. My Granddad invented them, back before his mind started going, they're all produced overseas now. These will certify you all as official trainers in the Pokemon League. You can challenge gyms all you want, try to get the Eight badges needed to get in the Finals in Indigo Plateau. Now once you all get out of here, you're going to hit Viridian City in the North. There's a gym there, but it's my Gym, and if you try to challenge me, especially you," he pointed again at Tyler. "I'm going to destroy you. Obliterate you. You won't have a chance. So don't bother. Go to Pewter. The Rock guy there. He sucks. You can probably beat him. As long as you're not relying on a fire type. Or a normal type. Actually, yeah you probably will have problems."

"SHIT! SHIT!"

"Gramps! What did you do now?"

"SHIT! I need to you get the microwave going!"

"Oh for fucks sake, do it yourself! Here...Rochelle...this one's yours." He handed the first Pokedex to the bandanna girl, and then went through passing out the rest. "There. Now you're in the League. Go off on adventures, yadda yadda yadda. I'm getting out of here." With that Gary stepped outside and summoned his Pidgeot. "Pidgeot, Fly me away!"

"Pidg-otttt!" At its trainer's command the giant bird spread it's wings and took flight, carrying Gary off towards Viridian.

"Seems we head to Viridian City then to Pewter City. Hmmm or maybe catch some wild Pokemon." Fary said opening her new Pokedex and blinked as it registered Zorua and spoke up. "Zorua, a dark fox type Pokemon, found in the Unova region. Zorua takes on the appearance of other Pokémon to frighten off enemies. Ability, Illusion; allows the Pokemon to change the appearance to a different species. Behavore, they are mischievous and will sometimes laugh at the enemies they confuse when they take on their appearance. They will also laugh after they are forced back into their true forms, snickering at the harmless mischief they caused. Zorua will sometimes laugh at its enemies, even when it is in a dangerous situation." the pokedex then became silent.

Fary looked at Zorua. "Man you race can be dicks it seems." Fary said then blinked. "Wait you can transform?" she blinked. Zorua looked at her confused and yipped licking Fary's cheek. "No I didn't say you were a dick. You're just... mischievous." she added.

Rochelle smiled at Fary's Pokémon, Zorua, licking its Trainer's cheek. Her attention was divided, however, as she took a quick look at the external appearance of her new Pokédex. She wondered how it recognised new Pokémon or added data to it. Perhaps there was a camera inside that recognised Pokémon by their appearance, and a database or something that was updated whenever a new one was encountered.

Resolving to examine the Pokédex in more detail another time, she said, "I really wish there was something we could do about Oak... but I don't think we're in the right position to do so. Should we get going?" She made her way to the door, reattaching Kirsten's Poké Ball to her belt as she did so.

After Gary Oak (rather forcefully) handed Tyler his Pokedex, the infuriated Gym Leader left the lab and flew away on his impressive-looking Pidgeot. He blankly stared at his device, still in a state of shock over his verbal beatdown. When the traumatized Trainer finally came to, the people around him were conducting introductions. "Er...I'm Tyler Page from Saffron City. I've got an Abra...and that's pretty much it," he said meekly, shoving his hand back into his pocket.

Aeris had cringed when Rochelle mentioned that her Pokemon couldn't be out of water for too long. Ah, crap in a bottle. Not a water Pokemon! Well, I just hope she won't challenge me to a duel, or let the Pokemon out near me...

She was handed her Pokedex and she opened it. "Ooh, nice. Lets see..." She pointed it at her Charmander, who got registered into the Pokedex. "Wow. Amazing! I can't wait to start! Oh, but he said that a fire type wouldn't be good against that rock guy..." She looked at Blaze and smiled. "Don't worry. We'll think of something." She patted Blaze, who liked that.

"Yeah, let's get out of here, bros," Jordan agreed with Rochelle. He started following after the redhead now that he had gotten all he needed here. These Oaks were obviously nuts. At least the people who came here seemed like much more rational people. "Lead the way Red."